Cable and Internet service provider Cox Communications has teamed up with the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, and three pilot libraries to launch a new digital literacy website and more.

Brandy McNeil knows all about libraries fulfilling a genuine community need for digital literacy and computer training. After more than a decade serving as global training analyst for a Fortune 500 company, McNeil joined the New York Public Library (NYPL) in 2011 as part of the library’s learning and development team.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a $291,178 grant to the Public Library Association (PLA) to develop an online collection of digital literacy resources. The two year grant, which was given via the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, will help PLA partner with the American Library Association (ALA)’s Office for Information […]

In Bristol, a city straddling the border of Tennessee and Virginia, the Bristol Public Library (BPL) is taking digital literacy training to the next level. The library employs a small staff of full-time teachers, who have made computer training a key component of BPL’s 25 year-old Patricia Freedman Literacy Academy (PFLA). The academy launched as a GED prep program in the late 1980s, and even then, it offered a small computer component for students who wanted to learn keyboarding, said BPL Executive Director Jud Barry. Computers have since become ubiquitous, and five years ago, BPL opened a new main library with a computer lab, where the teachers are available for one-on-one instruction five days per week.

In a guest post, Alexia Hudson describes how she got invited to participate in the Tweet Up and the lessons she left with:

There aren’t many life experiences more exciting, surreal, and transformative than being an invited guest into the White House. Even more incredible than receiving the invitation, however, is the one small thing that led me to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on July 6.